Why I stopped going to church

 I have nothing against religion- any religion. Religion should bring you peace and the strength to get through the storms of life. I never found that in a church. Every single time I went to the church for help nothing. No help at all. 

As a teen playing in the church orchestra I was there for every service. So I heard the same service repeated several times every Sunday morning. I started reading not just the versus that was a part of the sermon but the entire chapter. The number of times those verses were twisted to mean something else was high. Once I started writing research papers, I learned it’s easy to take a comment from a completely unrelated article to make my point. Even if that sentence was used to demonstrate the opposite of the intent  of the article. 

I took it upon myself to read the Bible not as a religious, handed down from a higher power but as a collection of commentaries on the purpose of religion. As none of the New Testament was written until 50+ years after the events. They were stories passed down orally. Did you ever play telephone in school? Teacher whispered to one student and they whispered it to another and so on and so on? Did it ever make it to the last person the same? Not in my experience. So why shouldn’t I take the Bible as nothing more than partially remembered stories? A secular example - George Washington didn’t chop down a cherry tree. I always thought Nixon was impeached - nope he resigned before the article was written.

Then the people in the church. On Sunday morning they are kind and loving - Monday morning they are selfish and indifferent. More worried about the amount in their bank account than the welfare of their fellow man.

It took years but I finally found a path for myself. It’s pretty simple - I will be as good of a person as I can be, ask for forgiveness when I fall short, and uplift those that need and deserve it. I don’t have a “religion”. I have a belief system cobbled together by research and experience. It works for me. I don’t need a building to follow the path I’ve set.

Love & Hate & Impeachment

 I love few things and hate only one. Love and hate are two sides of the same coin. The only thing I have time and energy to hate is the fact my husband, friend and confidant died. Why bother with hating a person? In the end the hatred only hurts me, it has no effect on the other person. Oh I still have a temper and unlike when I was younger and hold it in until I literally would wonder how I got somewhere because I blacked out. Losing time sometimes hours is no fun. Now I prefer to vent so I don’t reach that point. 

With that said I do not hate Donald Trump. To be honest I just think he’s a waste of oxygen. Son why bother to hate him? He’s overweight, 74, and has criminal charges coming down the road. And then my personal belief that life is 100% fatal for 100% of the population. So why bother expending energy hating him? As for the Impeachment - expected, hoped I was wrong, but with the current political climate? Who is shocked? Certainly not me.

Missed Monday and Comic books

 I missed yesterday’s post. So instead I’ll leave you with this.

• X-Men is about civil rights. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get X-Men.

• Black Panther is about colonization. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get Black Panther.

• Captain America literally fought nazis. He is the embodiment of fighting the alt-right. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get Captain America.

• The Empire in Star Wars is fascist. The Rebel alliance are Anti-Fascist. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get Star Wars.

• Doctor Who was about an alien fighting for all of humanity in spite of totalitarian regimes. If you don't get that, you don't get Doctor Who.

• The Punisher isn’t meant to be a role model for police or armed forces. So much so that the writers of The Punisher made him actively speak out against it in a comic. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get The Punisher.

• Deadpool is queer. He’s pansexual. Fact. If you didn’t get that you didn’t get Deadpool.

• Star Trek is about equality for all genders, races and sexualities. As early as the mid-60s it was taking a pro-choice stance and defending women’s right to choose. One of its clearest themes is accepting different cultures and appearances and working together for peace. (It’s also anti-capitalist and pro-vegan). If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get Star Trek.

• Superman and Wonder Woman (and a whole host of other superheroes) are immigrants. The stance of those comics is pro-immigration and pro-equality and acceptance. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get Superman or Wonder Woman.

• Stan Lee said, “Racism and bigotry are among the deadliest social ills plaguing the world today.” If you’re bigoted or racist, you didn’t get any of the characters Stan Lee created.

• The stories we grew up with all taught us to value other people and cultures and to treasure the differences between us. Only villains were xenophobic, or sexist, or racist, or totalitarian. I can’t understand how anyone can have missed that.

• If you’re upset that there’s a black Spider-Man, or a black Captain America, or a female Thor, or that Ms. Marvel is Muslim, or that Captain Marvel was pro-feminism or any of the other things right-wing “fans” say is “stealing their childhood” - you never got it in the first place. The things you claim are now “pandering to the lefties” were never on your side, to begin with.

If you consider yourself a fan of these things, but you still think the LGBTQ+ community is too “in your face”, or have a problem with Black Lives Matter, or want to “take the country back from immigrants”, then you’re not really a fan at all.

Geek culture isn’t suddenly left-wing... it always was. You just grew up to be intolerant. You became the villain in the stories you used to love.

Copy/Paste, don't share. (I did that. You can, too.)

What a week!

 Cloris Leachman the original Queen Hippolyta in Wonder Woman died. The next day Cicely Tyson died. Body cam footage of a woman being trampled to death on 1/6 from her POV. Trump’s lawyers quit. Wow.

I kind of overspent. Mostly because I got some KN95 mask and a new purse. The mask cause I’ve avoided Covid this long really don’t want to get it now. Oh and the 2 month supplies of food and litter for the cats.

I’m going to be a Budget Friendly Recipe page on Facebook - it’s how I eat anyway so....why not.

First full week of a new President and shockingly the news isn’t filled with “Overnight the President tweeted...”. It’s been Nice. The three times a week Covid briefings are good. Though when they get technical my eyes glaze over and I go “Huh?” But I like listening to people smarter than me or experts in their field.